Recently, Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh opened an exhibit called On the Farm. Several businesses and associations in North Carolina made this happen, including Hog Slat Inc. in Newton Grove. Jamie Thomas, Recruiting and training manager for Hog Slat:

“We are really excited to be a part of this. We find all the time that as people get further and further away from the farm they don’t know where their food comes from. This exhibit has put more reality around modern agriculture and gets kids excited about it like we are around here."

Thomas describes some of the items that Hog Slat contributed to the exhibit:

“Among other things we donated a cart that is really part of a faring crate and it will allow for a three quarters sized stuffed sow to be in it, and some piglets so kids can see how they would fit in there and get close to mommy."

As well as roofing, and a feed trough:

“We donated a full sized nursery feeder that we sell and they will modify that so kids can see how it can be adjusted. We also sell and donated the metal roofing that goes on the roof of hogging facilities and homes and they used that as siding in the exhibit."

Thomas explain that their in-house engineers specifically designed some of the items in the exhibit:

“One of the nice things about Hog Slat is that we have our own product development team and they worked with the designers at the museum and scaled things down to be able to fit into the exhibit."

Most of these items are metal and have sharp edges and other things that might make them unsafe for kids. Thomas says that was part of the challenge in making items specifically for the exhibit:

“That was a joint effort of ours and the designers at the museum. They made sure that everything was very safe for all the children."

The On the Farm exhibit is a permanent installation at Marbles Kids Museum.

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